The Long Easter (II)

It was another rainy night. On the flooded road, the headlights of passing cars flashed by. Gordon, wearing rain boots, hurried down the stairs and shook hands with Schiller, who was walking up. He said exaggeratedly, "Thank God, Professor, you've come just in time!"

"Let's go inside and talk about it."

Gordon pushed open the police station door, and before he could even lead Schiller to his office, a junior officer approached and said, "Boss, all the interrogation rooms on the second floor are full. That drunkard and Scarface got into a fight; it took three people to separate them. And that black guy with the band tattoo is acting like a madman. We don't have enough manpower to keep an eye on so many prisoners..."

Gordon sighed and said, "If we catch anyone else later, there's no need to interrogate them. Just lock them up first."

Gordon led Schiller up the stairs, walking quickly ahead without turning his head, and said, "These guys have gone crazy lately. Gotham's crime rate has increased twelvefold today, and the interrogation rooms and cells are overflowing."

"I don't know what's going on, everyone's so angry." Gordon walked down the corridor and pointed to the end. "Those two people in that interrogation room got into a fight over a pack of cigarettes, and there's that couple in the room on the left, they started arguing and started brandishing knives and guns..."

"I thought this was just Gotham," Schiller said, quickly walking up the stairs and standing behind Gordon.

"That was indeed the case before, but once the logistics system started operating, there were very few idle people like that. I didn't expect them to reappear."

He sighed and said, "But as expected, the flooding on the city roads is too severe, logistics operations have basically come to a standstill, and everyone is stuck at home."

"But you still feel something's not right, right? Otherwise you wouldn't have asked me to come here."

"That's right. Even if Gotham was rotten to the core before, it shouldn't have suddenly seen so many mentally ill people appear overnight."

"Right now, in the office on the third floor, there are two people convulsing, one foaming at the mouth, and another who has started talking nonsense."

"Our officers conducted alcohol and drug tests on them, but the results showed no problems. They just suddenly fell ill."

Gordon stood in the office doorway, hands on his hips, and said to Schiller, "If it weren't for that kid named Cobblepot's attack last time, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. But their symptoms are very similar, so I had to call you over to take a look and see what's going on."

Schiller frowned as he pushed open the office door and saw several people huddled in the corner, just like Cobblepot had been, soaking wet and convulsing, muttering to themselves.

Schiller shook his head and said, "I expected this; it's a side effect of getting caught in the rain."

Gordon didn't hear what he said clearly, and just as he was about to ask again, Schiller interrupted him, saying, "Never mind that for now, transfer them to Arkham. Just as you expected, this isn't normal, and I need to do further tests."

When Schiller arrived at his office at Arkham Asylum, it started raining heavily again outside the window, less than four hours after the last downpour.

Schiller walked to the window and watched the raindrops patter against the railing outside the glass, reflecting a faint luster. He silently calculated in his mind that the thunderstorms were becoming more and more frequent, from once every two weeks two weeks ago to once a day, and today there had already been three heavy rains.

He walked out of his office and knocked on the door of the next ward. Batman's voice came from inside. "Come in."

Schiller walked in and saw him and Cobblepot standing on either side of a table with a map of Gotham City on it. Schiller went in and said directly, "It seems that plan really disgusted them."

Cobblepot gave a sinister laugh, and Batman's lips twitched. He said, "You've given me a new perspective on the despicable nature of human tactical planning."

"If you don't use this method, even if you catch them by the tail, they will only hide deeper and deeper instead of coming out on their own."

Batman sighed, his thoughts drifting back to a few days earlier.

Evans, Batman, and Cobblepot deduced that the Court of Owls used a well to monitor the Living Hell, but this is still just a hypothesis and needs further verification.

Batman planned to infiltrate Living Hell on his own to investigate, but Cobblepot refused, feeling that Living Hell was his territory and Batman had no need to interfere.

Batman, true to his skeptical nature, did not trust Cobblepot and decided to take matters into his own hands.

The two were deadlocked, and finally, with Evans' mediation, they split up. Cobblepot investigated the North District, and Batman investigated the South Side. They each did their own thing and did not interfere with each other.

During the reform of the Living Hell, all six wells in the South Side and North District were filled in. However, this filling did not completely block the wells from bottom to top. In order not to damage the structure of the groundwater, only about three meters above the surface were supported by a support structure and poured to create the ground surface. The part below three meters was still a well.

Batman methodically found a sewer entrance and then planned to dig a tunnel from underground to the bottom of the well.

However, Cobblepot, being an unorthodox, unconventional individual, had a broader perspective. He still managed to gather tires, Red Truck, Rocket Launcher, and others to form a small team, intending to investigate using special methods.

These people are different from Batman, who is rich and willful. After all, they don't have that set of sturdy equipment, not even Night Vision Goggles. It's unrealistic for them to figure out the original structure of the Living Hell in the complex sewers. But unorthodox methods have their own ways.

This all started with the old drug dealer who provided them with the map.

Gotham has no shortage of geniuses who have gone astray, and among them, the best are these drug dealers who are like gophers.

In Gotham, there are indeed no police officers to stop you from selling these contraband items, but the greatest danger comes precisely from your fellow traffickers.

This kind of thing inevitably needs to be stored and transported, and once the storage location and transportation route are discovered by other gangs, you can expect your valuable goods to disappear without a trace.

To avoid this situation, most drug dealers operating in this Living Hell environment have their own transportation routes.

This old drug dealer was the same; he joined forces with several other big-time bosses to control most of the underground passages within the Living Hell area.

They don't use the surface at all; instead, they transport goods directly through underground passages. This way, they can avoid being discovered by the gangsters in this Living Hell and reduce the probability of being robbed.

When Living Hell was undergoing reforms, most of the underground tunnels were destroyed by the foundation supports, but a few were still usable. Cobblepot obtained this information and then found the secret at the bottom of the well faster than Batman.

Their deduction was correct: of the five wells in the North District, three of them had a secret room at the bottom, and the rooms were interconnected, leading to a larger conference room.

When Cobblepot found out about this place, he didn't rush in, but instead notified Batman.

Batman, who was more skilled at infiltration, reached the perimeter of these rooms. After investigating, he discovered that, unlike the huge conference room he had found before, there were signs of recent activity here.

Batman thought that their prediction was indeed correct. If the Owls had really been operating here for decades, they would never have completely given up Gotham's territory. Even if they had to relocate due to some unforeseen circumstances, they would definitely have left personnel to guard other locations.

After several days of surveillance, Batman discovers that the underground of Living Hell appears to have become a new stronghold for members of the Court of Owls.

In accordance with the principle of information sharing among Gotham's secret meeting members, the Batman forum simply informed Schiller of the situation. However, Schiller, as if he had been prepared, came up with a plan that was utterly baffling, yet potentially extremely effective.

As Schiller said, it's not hard to catch the Court of Owls by the tail, or even to storm their stronghold, but if you can't succeed the first time, they'll definitely run away and hide even deeper, and this game of hide-and-seek will never end.

Therefore, we must have a plan to force them to reveal themselves, make them expose their true colors, and create an opportunity for success.

The specific plan was as follows: Schiller speculated that even if the Court of Owls were hidden underground, they would still need energy for lighting and communication.

So where does this energy come from?

While the possibility of them having their own independent energy facilities cannot be ruled out, based on Schiller's understanding of the Court of Owls, they are like tumors growing on normal tissue. Their more likely approach is to infiltrate their own people during the conversion of the Living Hell, then draw a line from the Living Hell's energy system to power themselves.

So Schiller had Gordon find the Little Rascal, and then Cobblepot had the Little Rascal take him around the Living Hell twice.

Sure enough, the Little Rascal soon discovered that one of the power lines was going the wrong way. Following this line, Cobblepot found the energy pipeline at the Court of Owls outpost.

Besides the power supply, there are other pipes, and the above-ground parts are hidden very well and unattended.

Schiller's ultimate plan was to empty the toilet.

By connecting the sewage treatment pipes of Living Hell and the power supply pipes of the Court of Owls, the entire sewage system of Living Hell will be connected to the pipes of the Court of Owls.

The consequences are obvious: in Gotham, there is no place with a higher population density than the Living Hell, so its capacity to produce excrement is naturally top-notch.

"The excrement flooded their stronghold, turning it into a giant swamp."

Batman's voice cracked as he said, "And judging from the situation at the scene, some people didn't manage to escape in time when they were knocked down..."

Batman paused for a moment, seemingly suppressing the nausea brought on by his imagination, Batman saying rather objectively, "It's disgusting, but it works."

"You said before that they trained a lot of Assassin. If I go in alone, I'm not confident I can defeat them all."

"Even if I can beat them, once they hold me back and release the Assassin, the inhabitants of that Living Hell will all suffer."

"Gotham is the most densely populated place in this Living Hell. No matter what the Court of Owls does there, it will cause a lot of casualties. Therefore, we have to force them out of there. Although we can use them... they certainly won't care about killing people when they escape."

Schiller looked at Batman, his lips still turned down, giving him a deep and serious expression.

Schiller thought that perhaps this was what made Batman stand out among superheroes. Although he was still prone to individual heroism, he was willing to sacrifice his own strength for tactical victory rather than being greedy for credit and rushing ahead to show off his power.

When faced with a despicable tactic, one should not stand on the moral high ground to condemn it, but rather conduct rational analysis and judgment. Perhaps this is precisely the basic quality of a Tactical master.